Her Other Crush
by Gen. Malaise
Summary: You all know Haruno Sakura, avid Uchiha fan-girl. But he's not really her crush.
1. The Bench

This is indeed the dreaded first story, however I really don't care if you're mean, nice, flame, or even review at all, I'll be able learn something from it (you don't like it, you like it, you hate it, you're not interested, ect.). No I don't know when I will update it, you'll just have to wait if you're that interested. With that out of the way, please enjoy.  
**Disclaimer:** Yes I do own Naruto...IN CRAZYTOWN HAHAHA!!! ...no really I don't own it, don't sue.

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Haruno Sakura was once again sitting on the bench she went to when her offer for a date was rejected by Uchiha Sasuke. If anyone she knew saw her, they would know that her offer was rejected as well. However, the people who knew her would also think she was depressed over the fact that she would probably never get a date—a fact Sakura herself knew quite well—and was probably think of other ways to attract the Uchiha's attention. In fact if anyone knew what she was thinking, they would be very baffled.

Sakura was not thinking of the Uchiha, rather a certain blond haired shinobi, Uzumaki Naruto. She was at first depressed that Naruto did not pass the exam, yet when he was there today with a hitai-ate, (AN: spelling??) smiling, she knew something had let him pass the exam. Yes, Haruno Sakura, alleged head of the Uchiha Sasuke fan club had a crush on Naruto. And she could finally tell him, they were now on the same team!

_Flashback_

_Sakura was walking home after spending the day at the park with her new friends that she met because of Ino. She had two routes to get to her house, the one that cut through a few public training grounds—a shortcut—and the longer one that took the road by the river (AN: I don't know anything about the layout of Konoha, so if I make a mistake, don't yell at me). Today she felt like taking a walk in the woods instead of looking at the river, which was full of mud today because of the rain. As she was admiring the scenery of the verdant woods, she heard panting. Upon inspection she saw a boy about her age doing push-ups, fascinated she watched for half an hour seeing him do various exercises, when she remembered that she needed to get home._

_When Sakura came home her mother was saying how worried she was, and then yelled at her for coming home late. She was sent to her room early. She had spent that whole night thinking about the blond boy she saw, she even remembered several times she met him before. There were all these people surrounding him staring, and she was standing behind her mother, wondering what was going on. It seemed like everyone avoided or even hated him. Then another day she saw him, he was running down the street, yelling to the chuunins chasing him that they would never catch the "Future Hokage". From what she remembered, his name was Naruto. Sakura began to admire the fact that he was disliked by the villagers, from what she saw, but was still determined enough to train himself and achieve his claims of being the future Hokage._

_The next day, Sakura came running to the park a little later than usual—she also coming had to do extra chores for summing home late. "Hey, you'll never guess who I like!" she cheerfully shouted, she decided that she also wanted to be strong enough to not care what people said about her, and was even more determined in succeeding in the Ninja Academy._

_One of the girls, Hitomi, said snidely, "Let me guess, is it Sasuke-kun?" Sakura was confused when all the other girls agreed, and looked at her with anticipation. She briefly recalled hearing from her mother about how the Uchiha clan was massacred, and the only survivor was Sasuke._

"_What? —" was all she could get out before she was interrupted. "Everyone likes Sasuke-kun; he's so smart and handsome. If you want to get him you have to go through us." Sakura, while annoyed for being interrupted, didn't know what to do, she knew from experience what being different could do, and she didn't want to go through it again._

_Sakura decided that having friends was more important than telling said friends about her crush on Naruto. However, when everyone became rivals for Sasuke's affection, she had no way to stop, and eventually acted like a fan-girl like her "friends". She never wanted to go through her life without anything similar to friends again, so she kept up her act, even going as far as hitting Naruto. His obvious crush on her didn't make things any easier, but she wasn't sure whether it was worth loosing her friends to get Naruto, even if she found herself liking him more and more each day. This lasted all throughout the Academy, and she hoped that when she graduated he would be on her team, without Sasuke—she still didn't know why the other girls liked him—and she could tell him her feelings. She just hoped it wasn't too late, after all she hit him almost every other day._

_End Flashback_

--

Uzumaki Naruto was extremely excited. He started off with a great day. He was able to smell the rotten milk before he drank it, actually had some decent fruit in his fridge, and got to sit next to Sakura, even if she was staring at Sasuke the whole time. He even got to be on the same team as Sakura, even if Sasuke was on it—he tried to forget about the kissing incident. And because of his new team he wanted to talk with Sakura about it. But after the kiss and how annoyed she seemed that day he knew he could just go up and talk to her.

Of course being the genius that he is, he figured out how to ambush Sasuke and tied him up. He knew Sakura could resist talking to him. After finding the bench she sat on whenever Sasuke rejected her, Naruto went over his impression of what Sakura would want to hear from Sasuke. "You sure have a large and charming forehead makes me want to kiss it." Naruto knew Sakura hated her forehead, but he though if she heard a compliment about it from Sasuke she would love it.

Sakura, after hearing that line come from Sasuke, knew something was up. Those books paid off too, when she recognized Naruto's chakra. 'He's in a henge' was her first thought. Her next was 'Wait! NARUTO'S pretending to be Sasuke; he might try to kiss me!' She knew that she would have to play the part of a fan-girl, but she might get a kiss out of it.

"Heh, sounds like something Naruto would say." Sakura did her best to look sad. When Naruto sat down he said, "Sakura, there's something I want to ask you, what do you think of Naruto?"

It almost broke her heart to say this but she REALLY wanted that kiss, "He's so annoying, Naruto doesn't know anything about me, and is always getting in the way. All I want is for you to acknowledge me." She mentally added "Naruto" to the end of her sentence.

Naruto's thoughts were more along the lines of, 'I think I finally understand why I like her. Just like I want the village to acknowledge me, she wants Sasuke to.' Naruto, seeing her lean in to kiss him, began to lean as well, "But… I would never want someone to trick me like this. If she wants Sasuke, I can't do this to her.' "Sakura-chan, wait" he said just a few centimeters away from the kiss. "I'm sorry, I can't do this. It's just… I really like you, but I can't trick you into giving away your first kiss." It was then that Naruto released his henge. "I'll try to not get in your way anymore, Sakura."

Sakura, on the other hand, was amazed, 'He would give up his crush just for me to be happy.' She shouted, "Naruto, wait!" before he even got a few steps away. Naruto's immediate reaction was to close his eyes and yell, "Please don't hit me Sa—" Naruto was cut off before he could even finish. It took a few moments for him to realize that there was something on his lips. When he opened his eyes he was amazed. Haruno Sakura, the girl he liked since the start of the Academy, was hanging on his shoulders, kissing him! And it was awesome, he saw her beautiful face, smelt her strawberry hair, and could feel her soft lips against his.

When they finally parted, his first response was the intelligent response of, "Wha?" Sakura only laughed and whisper, "Follow me." He could only obey, as they walked through the woods, holding hands to one of the public training grounds.

Sakura explained herself, "This is where I first saw you Naruto," gesturing to the field around her, "it was a little after I first met Ino, and I always liked you since. And because people used to make fun of my forehead, when I saw you I wanted to have the strength to not care what people think of me. But all the other girls liked Sasuke, and I didn't have that strength yet, so I had to pretend, and I just never stopped. It was killing me to keep rejecting you, and when Iruka said we were on the same team I was so excited, I could finally tell you… but I guess this is a little early, huh?"

Naruto, on the other hand, couldn't believe Sakura had liked him all along. He had no idea how to feel. So he settled with telling Sakura his situation, "I was always dislike by the villagers, and I had no idea why, but I thought I could earn their respect by becoming a great ninja like Hokage-jiji, and then it became my goal to be Hokage too. But even in the Academy, no one really liked me, so they wouldn't teach me, and to even get any attention, I had to be the clown. Heh, to tell you the truth, I probably could have pulled of the graduation exam if I tried a little harder at the history stuff. But then the year after I failed twice, I got Iruka-sensei, and I got a different recognition, and you were finally in my class too. I saw you a couple times out during recess and on the training grounds. I always thought you were pretty, and you were so assertive that I couldn't help but notice you, and you were a pretty good ninja. You had friends and everyone knew you, most of them talked about you positively, being the first kunoichi in your clan or something. But besides being pretty, I had no idea why I liked you, Sakura-chan. Until on the bench you said you wanted Sasuke's acknowledgement. That's what we both want, I want the villagers to acknowledge me, and you want Sasuke to acknowledge you."

Sakura smiled at his reasoning but she said, "But you're wrong, Naruto," he looked surprised at this, "I never wanted Sasuke's acknowledgement, I want yours." At that Naruto blushed, and Sakura took that as her cue to give him another kiss. And they both understood, when they felt the energy of the kiss, that they belonged together.


	2. The Test

Uzumaki Naruto was now sitting in his classroom waiting for his sensei to arrive. Of course, he wasn't even thinking about anything even related to his sensei, rather about his new girlfriend, Sakura. After a few more minutes of kissing—no open mouth/making out yet, they're a new couple, and twelve—they decided to talk more. Sakura was still afraid of what would happen between her and Ino, and what people would think of her if they knew she was dating, the obviously hated, Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto, who couldn't have been more understanding, agreed that they could keep it a secret, but showed his disappointment about not even being able to act like a couple on their team. Because she also shared Naruto's train of thought, Sakura said it would be okay to be a couple when they were with their team only—Sasuke wouldn't care, and she doubted their new sensei would either.

Only fifteen minutes after Iruka left, a jounin came in asking team ten to come with him. After waiting half a minute after they all left Naruto immediately raced to Sakura's side, where she held his hand and leaned up against him. Not even bothering to look at the annoyed/surprised face of Sasuke, they resumed their kissing. Stopping only when Sasuke decided to speak up, "Hn… Sakura if this is some stupid plan to make me jealous, it's terrible. I couldn't care less if you and the dobe were dating."

He was even further surprised when her only response was, "Good." before she went back to the object of her affection. However, Sasuke's surprise then turned into annoyance when throughout the whole two hour wait they kept kissing, giggling, and whispering. A look of half relief passed over his face when he heard someone coming down the hall, while Naruto and Sakura quickly moved a respectable distance from each other and tried to look more presentable for their sensei.

When the door finally opened, a tall and very strange man, who looked more like a cyclops entered the room. "Hmmm, my first impression of you guys is… you're hiding something." At this, both Naruto and Sakura seemed to squirm a bit. "Meet me on the roof" was the only other thing they heard before their jounin sensei left.

"Well, let's begin with introductions, your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, stuff like that." Naruto wasted no time before shouting, "Hey, hey, why don't you introduce yourself first?" Sakura followed with, "Yeah, you look kinda suspicious." Their sensei responded with, "Oh, me… Well my name is Hatake Kakashi; I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future, hmmm… And I have lots of hobbies…. Alright now it's your turn, let's start on the right." All their thoughts were along the lines of: 'All we learned was his name.'

Quickly brought out of his thoughts when he realized it was him, Naruto said, "Yosh! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! What I like is cup ramen and Sakura-chan, my dislikes are the three minutes to cook ramen, and when Sakura used to hit me…And my dream, is to surpass the Hokage, and have everyone in the village acknowledge me!" The-now-named Kakashi had expected a reply like this. Naruto continued, "Hobbies, pranks I guess, oh and… nah, I'll let Sakura tell you!" Kakashi could only wonder what that meant.

If Kakashi was surprised he didn't let it show, "Alright well, I guess I'll save that little surprise for last, you on the left, why don't you go?" Sasuke grunted and then answered, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are lot's of things I dislike, and I really don't like anything… And I can't really call it a dream, but I have an ambition: the resurrection of my clan… and to kill a certain man." Once again, Kakashi expected this response. 'He better not mean me…' thought Naruto.

"Okay," Kakashi said, "and lastly, the girl." Sakura fumbled over her words, knowing she had to tell him what Naruto meant, "Well, my name is Haruno Sakura, the thing, I mean person I like is…" her unease was showing, but dissolved when Naruto flashed her a smile, making her blush. Sakura cleared her throat, "The person I like is Naruto," she ignored Kakashi's surprise, "what I dislike is how much I think of what others think of me, and my dream for the future…" She blushed, thoughts of her, Naruto, and children swirling through her head. Kakashi interrupted her thought when he asked, "So what did Naruto mean?" She blushed even more, "Our hobby is…" he was almost whispering, "…kissing."

Kakashi, once again, hid his surprise, "Well your file said it was Sasuke you like, and that you weren't in any relationship, care to explain? I need to make sure it won't interfere with your functions as a team." Naruto decided that, since he was in the relationship too, he would answer, "Sakura…" he wanted to keep it brief, "wanted to keep it a secret, and I was talking to her alone, when she admitted her…feelings, and since I like her too, we just became a couple today." Kakashi, hiding his emotions behind his mask again, eye-smiled and said, "Just make sure it doesn't interfere with your teamwork or any missions we might have. Which brings me to our next topic, tomorrow we'll start our duties as shinobi, but first we'll do something just for the four of us." Naruto all but shouted, "What is it? What is it?" And a strangely serious response was, "Survival training." (AN: I was going to stop here but it's not even 1000 words, so, on with the story.)

The next day the newly dubbed team 7 showed up at the training ground as told by Kakashi. Needless to say, they were all nervous—even if Sasuke tried to hide it—the thought that over two thirds of the people who take the test pass, and those who fail return to the academy was the only thought going through each genin-hopefuls' mind.

Because none of them had even eaten breakfast, they were all irritable. Naruto didn't even try to take advantage of his new relationship, and Sakura was somewhat grateful for this, she didn't feel like doing much. In fact, the lack of food put them in such a bad condition Naruto decided to voice his opinion, "How are we even supposed to fight if we're this hungry? And if he's as late as yesterday, we're gonna miss lunch too!"

Sasuke, while he didn't like Naruto much, grunted in agreement, and Sakura slowly nodded her head as well. They all began to suspect that the test they were getting wouldn't be as straightforward as it seemed. Then, something no one suspected happened. "I always carry around two ration bars with me, I was saving them for lunch but I thing this is more important." Naruto and Sakura both looked at Sasuke with slightly open mouths, as he gave them each a third of one of the, admittedly disgusting, bars. However, they each accepted without protest. After waiting for an hour after they were told to arrive, it became clear Kakashi would most likely be as late as he was yesterday. However they weren't aware of the stealth most jounin possessed.

Kakashi was waiting in the trees, watching the events before him unfold. Even though he was still late from his visit to the memorial stone, he had been watching them for forty-five minutes, and was planning on keeping them waiting for another thirty. However, he had never expected Sasuke to be generous in any way; it must have had something to do with Sakura not fawning over him, and Naruto being a little more subdued. Nothing much eventful happened other than a few kissing sessions between Naruto and Sakura—who again, are twelve and a new couple—and some small talk between the three. Kakashi honestly did not expect any of them to be this interactive with the circumstances he set up, they all got little sleep, got there before the time he specified, were hungry and annoyed because of Kakashi. Perhaps this team _did_ have potential after all.

"Hey guys, good morning!" Kakashi lackadaisically said as he entered the clearing, which was responded by a very loud, "YOU'RE LATE!" by Naruto and Sakura. Kakashi ignored them instead, and placed an alarm clock on a stump. "Okay, it's set for noon, here's two bells, you're task is to take these two bells from me before the time's up. Those who fail to get a bell will be tied to a stump while I eat their lunch in front of them." As Kakashi said this the still famished genin-hopeful's dismayed thoughts were, 'So that's why he told us not to eat.' "Because there are only two bells, one of you will be tied to the stump, also the one who doesn't get a bell fails, and will be sent back to the academy. Be sure to come at me with the intent to kill." Sakura looked uncomfortable but said nothing, he was a jounin for a reason. While Naruto….

"But you can't take all of us on at once, we'll kill you." Kakashi was about to respond, but was beaten to the punch, literally. After giving Naruto a good whack Sakura whispered rather harshly, "Naruto, he's a jounin, he'll be fine." Naruto could only nod, while wondering why she still had to hit him. (AN: I felt I was taking too much away from Sakura's actual character. She's not Sakura if she doesn't hit Naruto for doing/saying something stupid.) With that they all calmed down and stood in attention. Kakashi continued, "As I was saying before Mr. Deal Last interrupted me," Naruto was about to shout something, but Sakura stared at him angrily, "come with the intent to kill." As he finished, Kakashi could see nothing but determination on their faces. "Well it looks like you all understand that, I guess I'm finally beginning to like you guys. Okay let's get going, ready… begin!" With that the three seemed to leap away.

…Seemed to leap away because in front of Kakashi was a confident looking Naruto yelling, "Come and fight me!" Kakashi could only manage to say, "Umm, you're a little bit off." "The only thing off is your haircut!" With that Kakashi sighed reached into his pouch and pulled out his Icha Icha Paradise book.

Sakura stared in disbelief as she watched Naruto fight their sensei, while said sensei was reading a book; suddenly her sensei was behind Naruto with his hands in a tiger seal. Sakura could only yell in horror to Naruto, "NARUTO! Run away, you're going to get killed!" And just after she ran a quarter way there, their sensei had already attacked…Naruto's ass with a super-poke. She had to hold back a laugh as Naruto flew through the air, into the river. Where soon, nearly twenty-five kage bushins flew out of the water at their sensei, while Naruto saw Sakura. Sakura made a gesture to come to her. "Sakura-chan, I don't think I can beat him myself, we need to help each other." While Sakura agreed, she had an objection, "But…what about Sasuke, we can't just leave him to fail." Naruto looked down, "We'll figure something out. But for now, we need to fight as a team." And not a moment later, Kakashi finished off the last kage bushin—still reading his smut—turned toward them, and charged.

Naruto hastily made more kage bushins, while Sakura tried to cast a basic academy genjutsu, while throwing several shuriken, being careful to avoid Naruto. Kakashi, while having a slightly more difficult time, still fended off Naruto, dispelled the genjutsu, and dodged the shuriken at the same time. He soon landed a kick to Naruto's chest, sending him flying, but leaving himself a little off balance. This was taken advantage not by Sakura, but Sasuke as a hail of kunai flew down, and Sasuke charged at Kakashi. When Naruto also joined the fray Kakashi had to finally stop reading his book. Not even thinking about dropping it, he opened his pouch to put it away, and moved to fight again, when he felt a shove from behind from one of Naruto's many kage bushins. Kakashi, who knew he let them get this far anyway, turned around to roundhouse kick the kage bushin, but before he could, it had already thrown the bells to the real Naruto.

Kakashi straightened up, and everyone stopped, "Very good Naruto, you managed to get both bells with five minutes to spare. Since you have two, I suppose you can choose if you want someone to pass with you." Naruto looked at the bells in his hands, then to Sakura, then to Sasuke. He sighed as he threw one bell to Sakura. Kakashi was about to say something, when Naruto looked sadly at his bell, when he threw it to Sasuke. Explaining himself, Naruto said, "I only got that lucky shot in because Sakura and Sasuke joined the fight…" he looked down sadly, "besides, I'm the dead last, and Sakura and Sasuke are better ninja than I am. I already failed twice, so what difference does one more time make?"

Sasuke looked at the bell with disgust and responded to Naruto, "I don't need your charity; I can pass without any handouts." Sakura followed suit saying, "Naruto…I really want to be stronger, but I can't do that if things are just handed to me. You were the one to get the bells, even if it was just luck, you earned them."

Kakashi just smiled, "So have you guys decided yet?" They all said simultaneously, "Let them pass." Kakashi just chuckled, "Well then, since none of you are willing to let either of your teammates fail… I guess I'll just have to let you all pass!" Nothing could describe the relief that showed on all of their faces, as Naruto and Sakura smiled, and she gave him a kiss, while Sasuke's lip twitched a bit. "Well," Kakashi gave his 'eye smile', "since we're all a team, I'd like to show you all something.

They all arrived at a nearby clearing with a large ornate stone in the center. They all sat down in front of it and Kakashi began, "First, I want to make one thing clear. Teamwork is the most important part of being a ninja. My test was designed to split you up, and you unknowingly succeeded in the hidden part of it. There are many compromising situations, such as a teammate being taken hostage, which could be avoided with the proper teamwork. Look at the names on this stone," he walked up to it and gestured, "it's a stone with the names of heroes on it, the names of people who were killed in action. This memorial has my best friend, my teammate's name carved onto it. You guys are the first to exhibit any sort of cooperation during my test, everyone else failed." They all went pale at that. "You were able to see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules of the shinobi world are called trash… But you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash. You have proven that you are not lower than trash, even with the obvious differences between you." Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke felt nothing but joy at that moment, and they all silently promised that they would not let their sensei down. Kakashi said cheerfully, "That ends today's training, normally a new gennin team would begin it's duties as ninja the next day, but I feel that you guys deserve a small break for being the first team to pass my test, we'll meet up here in three days to begin our work together."

At that Kakashi left to turn away, and Naruto shouted, "Alright, were all ninja now! Sakura-chan, Sasuke-te-…" 'He's not that much of a bastard' Naruto thought, "Sasuke, do you guys want to go to Ichikaru's to celebrate?" Sasuke shrugged his shoulders, claiming he had noting better to do, silently think, 'He's not _too_ bad, and proved he's not a complete idiot.' Sakura's answer was a kiss on the lips and in a slightly teasing tone, "Do you even have to ask." Naruto couldn't be happier; things were finally looking up for him.

Things were finally looking up indeed.


	3. The Secrets

Hey, if you're wonder what took so long read the note at the beginning of the first chapter. I really just got kind of bored, and when I went back to write I realized that there isn't really much more I can do, so I made a minor change to the second chapter, and now this will be the new third chapter. The story is now a threeshot, and if you're interested in writing some sort of spin-off, PM me.

Also, now I have a beta page, so if you want me as your beta reader (I'm fluent in English to the level of a High School Senior, and I take AP English, so yeah...) just PM me. I think I'd be a much better Beta reader than a writer.

**Disclaimer: **If Kishimoto would give it to me, then I would own Naruto, but then I would give it back, because he's better than I am. Good thing he didn't give it to me!

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It was the first day of Team 7's break, Sasuke could be found walking the streets of Konoha, to the grocery store. As menial as this task was, he had to have food before he could begin training again.

It just so happened that as he passed the Yamanaka flower shop that Ino—who also had today off, but more because of Asuma's laziness than anything else—spotted the Uchiha. Not one to waste such an opportunity, Ino immediately left her post at the cash register, to pursue him.

Sasuke's surprise was evident on his face when he was glomped from behind by Ino, only to remember that Sakura was the only one who gave up on him. His thoughts drifted off to thinking about how great it would be if all his fangirls would just leave him alone.

Sasuke then interrupted Ino's speech about how much she loved him, etc, "Why couldn't you find someone else to bother, like Sakura did?" Immediately realizing that he just let her secret slip, and hoping she didn't notice.

Unfortunately she did, "Huh? What do you mean someone else?"

Sasuke, not wanting to cause any more trouble, just gave a curt reply, "Why don't you find out for yourself?" and he proceeded to walk off.

Unfortunately, once again, that's just what Ino left to do.

Naruto and Sakura could be found at the bench where they became a couple. While they were out in the open, the road the bench was on, had very few travelers, so they could be a couple in private.

While sitting there they enjoyed their time together, talking, holding hand, and of course, kissing. While kissing (remember their still closed mouthed, and all) Naruto had to steel his nerves for the next act he was about to perform. At this point in time he was sure that he loved her, but he wanted to see how she felt. Slowly, the hand that he had on Sakura's back began to travel lower, eventually to stop on her butt. Sakura, while surprised and angered that he would do that without asking, found she enjoyed the sensation. It lead to her holding Naruto even closer. This prompted Naruto to confirm his actions, with a squeeze of her cheeks. Eliciting a moan from Sakura.

Soon the scene on the bench of two you children innocently kissing, had turned into a passionate—and slightly lust-filled—exhibition of the same children making out.

The bench they were sitting on also happened to be a spot where Ino knew Sakura spent some of her time. So, during the time that Naruto and Sakura spent to finally make out, Ino checked all the places where she knew "forehead" hung out. With the bench being the only one left she headed there….

And of course, came upon the sight of her former best friend and rival, making out with the dobe. Only one response was appropriate, Ino screamed.

Naruto was startled by such a scream, and reasonably worried that someone spotted him and Sakura kissing. But Sakura, recognized the scream, and her expression was horrified. The one person that she was trying to hide her relationship from had discovered it only a day after it began. Sakura began to panic, "Ino! I… um… we were uhhhh…."

She didn't have enough time to even think of something when Ino began to shout, "Forehead! What the hell is going on her? You and Naruto were just…. Naruto! What did you do to her? You can't just be… I… you…." She began to just ramble, and when she finally stopped, she just stared with her mouth agape.

Naruto, understanding the awkwardness of the situation, took this time to break Sakura out of her trance, "Sakura, I think we need to tell her, she's not going to let this go." And while she might have not liked it, Sakura just nodded her agreement.

Before Ino could start rambling again Sakura cut her off, "Ino," finally getting her attention, "I know this looks… strange, but if you'll just let me explain…"

Ino, who had regained her composure, just replied with a curt, "Fine."

"Well," Sakura started, "first off I never really liked Sasuke, he was handsome and everything, but I just didn't like him. It was only a little bit after I met you, I was on my way home, and I took a shortcut through the training grounds, when I saw Naruto training. When I got home, I remembered how whenever I saw Naruto, he was always being looked down on. But he didn't let that bother him, he would always shout how he would be Hokage, and I wanted to be like that. He didn't care what people thought of him, and he just tried to prove them wrong. The next day, when I went to tell you and everyone else who I liked, you all thought that it was Sasuke. I never even got a chance to tell you, but I didn't have any other friends, and I didn't want to be different. I had to pretend to like Sasuke, you were the closest things I had to friends."

Sakura was interrupted by Ino, who still looked like she was trying to deny it, "But... but you used to always beat the crap out of Naruto whenever he asked you out. We didn't only talk about Sasuke, we talked about the other boys too."

Sakura just bit her lip, trying to hold back her tears, from the painful memories, "Yeah, but whenever we talked about Naruto, it was about how annoying he was, or how loud he was, or how stupid his jumpsuit was, or just how stupid he was," at this Naruto looked affronted, but didn't say anything, "When Naruto first asked me out, I actually hit him out of embarrassment, but since we never said anything good about him, I had to keep doing that whenever he bothered me." At this Ino just looked at Sakura incredulously, and was about to make another argument. But before she could start, Sakura glared at her, "But now… now that I finally got to talk to Naruto, and now that we're together, I'm not going to let anyone's opinion stop me. I… I love him!"

Both Naruto and Ino were surprised by that, and before Naruto had a chance to reply to that, Ino dragged Sakura off. After getting out of earshot, and after Sakura stopped struggling Ino began, "Sakura… is that how you really felt all this time? That just because you were different… that you we wouldn't be friends. We aren't friends right now because you pretended to be the same!"

Now Sakura was mad, "You can't put the blame on me! You were right there with everyone else, sneering at me when I was about to say I like Naruto. You were my first friend, before you, everyone saw would just point and laugh at my forehead! You knew that, but then after you all assume that I was talking about Sasuke you go and make us rivals. What was I supposed to do?" At this point, Sakura and Ino both began to cry.

Ino—still crying—shouted back at her, "This isn't my fault! I liked having you as a friend, but… but I liked Sasuke too; I didn't want our friendship to get in the way! If you really wanted to be like Naruto, you should have cared about what we thought anyway! I didn't even like Sasuke!" Once she realized what she said, she immediately clamped her hands on her mouth, hoping Sakura didn't hear.

However, her response was a very confused, "What?"

Ino sighed, if she found out Sakura's secret, she might as well tell her what her own was, "All those girls ever talked about was boys, and once the massacre came around, they started to talk about Sasuke to the point of obsession. They all talked about how they wanted to marry him and stuff. But when they asked me, I was really interested in boys, so I just joined in for the hell of it. But once I said that, I couldn't really take it back, when I thought you liked him too, I had to pretend I was competitive about it. So I ended our friendship. If I said, 'Just kidding, I don't really like Sasuke' no one would believe me." Sakura just stared; amazed that she wasn't the only one hiding something. Realizing that her only friendship was ended just because they wouldn't share secrets, Sakura hugged Ino. "So does that mean we're friends again?"

Sakura nodded, "Just no more secrets anymore."

Ino smiled, "Deal!"

With that said they walked back over to Naruto, who was still waiting patiently on the bench. Before they were back in earshot Sakura asked Ino, "So now that there aren't any more secrets… are you interested in boys now?" Ino just blushed, and Sakura laughed, still awaiting her response.

It's amazing what happens when secrets are revealed.

* * *

I just went over some reviews I got, then I realized that I forgot to switch this story to Complete. This story is a **THREE SHOT**. I know I kind of ended it at a wierd spot, but I really don't know where to go from here. The thing with Ino was really a way to tie everything up at the end. If you want to do some sort of spin-off/sequal, PM me. Otherwise, use your imagination about who Ino likes, or whatever else I didn't write about.


	4. The Idea

**To whoever wants to take this idea:**

I know it's been quite awhile, and no, I'm not going to update this story. The truth is that I just lack the writing talent and drove necessary to actually make a good story. And this story, while poorly written, is completed. However, I am allowing anyone who is interested to take the idea for this story. Just contact me via personal message, so I can check out your story. You don't even need to wait for me to say you can do it; this note here is your permission, provided you tell me. I just want to read whatever you write.

Thanks to those few people who read this story before this note, and a special thanks to the 13 people who left reviews.

As for what the idea for this story is, there are few requirements. Obviously, it has to be NaruSaku. Next, there has to be that scene on the bench, where something happens to make Naruto dispel his henge, from his own guilt, indigestion, etc. Sakura doesn't have to already like Naruto (though it would be nice), and she can react however you want her to when Naruto looses the henge, as long as it ends up NaruSaku. No bashing, no yaoi, no yuri (to be fair), no giant ass harem (more than 3 girls), and try to make it different from canon (not mandatory). As an example: I tried to write another chapter about the wave arc. Naruto ends up killing one of the Demon Brothers, because his determination to protect Sakura was stronger when his feelings were reciprocated. Mix it up a little, this is fanfiction, do what you want (just have a good reason for it).

As I said before this idea is open to everyone, so long as you tell me about your story, so I can read it. Doesn't matter if you're writing a oneshot, or an epic.

Oh, almost forgot, Ino can still have her crush on Sasuke, or you can make her like Naruto, whatever. My plan was to leave it open to interpretation.


End file.
